The best of times and the worst of times
by spoonman23
Summary: What if Harry met 3 different boys at platform nine and 3 quarters, how different will his life end up? Slight Ron and Dumbledore bashing nothing to extreme.
1. Chapter 1

Harry was trying not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had fifteen minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money and a large owl. Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get to Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket box between platforms nine and ten, when suddenly a voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Hey mate, are you lost?" Harry looked to the side and saw a boy about his age. The boy had light blonde hair which was cut somewhat shorter than his own. He had blue eyes that one could mistake for green at times, he wore slightly torn blue jeans and a red plaid shirt. However the thing that Harry took the most notice off was that behind the boy, he had a similar trunk to what Harry had. Harry decided to ask this boy if he knew how to get on to platform nine and 3 quarters because he had a trunk similar to Harry's.

"I know this might sound crazy but do you know how to get to platform nine and 3 quarters?" Harry asked. The boy smiled and said "Of course I do, but do you mind me asking if you're a muggleborn?" Harry answered "No my parents were magically but they died and I was raised by muggles". The blond boy grimaced and looked apologetic and quickly apologized. So the boy quickly showed Harry how to get past the barrier to the platform by running as fast as you could through the wall between platform 9 and 10. The boy looked up and asked "Would you like to join me and my friend in a compartment?" Harry quickly agreed as he was starting to worry about where he would sit when the blond boy asked him a question he was shocked to hear. "Mate, would you like to be my friend? I know I am assuming it is your first year because you couldn't find the platform but I would like to have you as friend." Harry was shocked, somebody wanted to be his friend he couldn't believe his luck but he had to be sure the other boy wasn't joking. "Are you sure? I mean you don't know my name and I don't know yours." The blond boy held out this hand and said "Kenneth John Turner pleased to meet you but please, call me John." Harry shook John's hand and said "Harry James Potter pleased to meet you" after hearing this John's eyes widen in shock but he quickly composed himself and told him to follow him closely while looking for his friend.

After a few minutes of looking John found his friend with another boy near the back of train and we were welcomed in to the compartment. We just got our trunks on the rack above our heads as the train started to move. Harry quickly took his seat beside one of the boys. He then took a few seconds to take in the appearances of the two boys, the one closest to Harry had long straight dirty blond hair, brown eyes and was wearing a plain red t-shirt and blue jeans that fit him well. The other boy had brown hair that was almost as messy as his but in a different way, his was sort of curled at the top but not in a way that looked like he had done it on purpose, he wore a white t-shirt and black jeans. John then said "Ok so let's introduce ourselves for anybody who doesn't know" Harry knew John was referring to him. The dirty blond next to Harry spoke first "I'm Matt Cameron", then the brown haired boy introduced himself "I'm Ben Shepherd" then John spoke "I'm John Turner" then Harry finished it "I'm Harry Potter". This caused both Ben and Matt to focus their sole intention on Harry, John snapped them out of their stares "Ok you idiots, lets focus not on what our names may be, but on who we are and so we don't forget this, I propose we create nicknames for each other." Harry thought this was a great idea and voiced his opinion, Ben quickly agreed with him however Matt looked doubtful and he said "I don't know, where would we get our nicknames from?" Harry hadn't thought about this but he didn't need to think for long as John replied with a smirk "Well me, Ben and Harry will pick it from our favourite animal and I'll think I'll call you Matters for now until we think of something more permanent." Matt was about to protest when Ben spoke up "Well my favourite animal is a fox so just call me Fox." John thought for a second "My favourite animal is a hawk and obviously calling me hawk would sound horrid, however I love birds so how about you call me Crake." Harry realized that name fit John well and at times would later alternate between both names without much thought. Crake proceeded in telling them the story about how he was looking in his bird encyclopedia when he was thinking about friends than his book fell and landed on a page about the Red-necked Crake, so Crake assumed it was destiny that his nickname would be Crake. Crake then looked at Harry with a smile and said "Your turn Harry." Harry took a few minutes to really think about this, while at the Dursley's he really didn't think about things such as favourite animals and he was nervous about telling the other boys this when suddenly he recalled a dream he had about a year ago. It involved a large stag that Harry immediately looked up at the library he didn't understand how he could dream about such an animal without ever having seen one. So he decided that of all the animals he had seen in his life he liked the stag the most. So after several minutes Harry finally spoke up "Well my favourite animal would have to be a stag." Crake smiled and said "Well like hawk, stag as nickname just wouldn't work." Harry started frowning fearing the worse from these boys, possibly they would ridicule him just like Dudley's gang did. However Crake continued "However I think we could use something fairly exclusive to a stag for your nickname Harry." Harry waited for the worst and said "What?" Crake smiled and said "I vote we call Harry, Prongs" Harry looked shocked when he heard this, they weren't ridiculing him and he couldn't help but smile. Both Matt and Ben nodded with Crake's statement with Ben voicing his approval "That's an awesome nickname." Harry smiled widen and Crake said "I believe it is unanimous, we are Matters, Prongs, Fox and Crake. Hogwarts won't know what hit it." All the boy's grins widen after thinking about this until they were broken out of their thoughts by the arrival of the trolley.

The boys then bought their share of candies. Harry noticed that the trolley only carried wizards candy and he decided that he should of realized this after all they were going to a magical school. Harry having never tried any of these treats decided to buy a little of everything. He also quickly realized that despite the fact their clothes didn't look the most expensive they all had a fair amount of money with them. Crake and Ben quickly explained what all the treats were. Harry was very happy to find his chocolate frog card was Albus Dumbledore. Harry then talked for about an hour with his new friends greatly enjoying their time together. Matt then asked a question that Harry realized was very important "What house do you guys want to be sorted into?" Harry spoke up first and told him of his encounter with the blond boy in the dress shop. Crake spoke up with an annoyed look on his face "That sounds like Draco Malfoy to me. He's this bloke that believes that if your muggleborn like your mother Harry, than you're not equal to someone who is parents are both wizards for their entire families aka purebloods. That's just another reason why we don't want to end up in Slytherin." Harry looked up at him surprised and questioned him "Why? Is it because all dark wizards come from Slytherin?" Crake chuckled slighty at this and replied "No that is a very stereotypical thought Harry. Why you may ask? Because not all dark wizards are from Slytherin, why there has even been a few Gryffindor. Also, not all Slytherin's are like Malfoy" he also added under his breath "or like my parents." Ben then spoke up "I believe our two choices here are either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. " He looked at Crake with a smile and said "And think about how much you'd piss off your parents if you got sorted into Gryffindor." Crake's head shot and a Cheshire grin broke on his face and he replied "Yeah and we could also annoy Malfoy so much more, plus both Matters' parents and Prongs' parents were both Gryffindors." Matt looked around and extending his arm to the middle of their compartment and said "All in favour of being sorted into Gryffindor place their hands in the middle" Crake and Ben immediately placed their hands in the middle while Harry thought about for a few seconds before deciding he wanted to be in his parent's house and placed his hand in the center. Crake then stood up and said "I believe it's time we ensue we don't encounter any unwanted visitors." He then took out his wand and pointed it at the door while saying "_Colloportus_" and the compartment door locked itself shut, he then proceed to draw the curtains shut. Harry was amazed at that display of magic and their discussion quickly lead to Crake's level of magic, which he claimed was advanced because he was able to nick his dad's wand for a few days and snuck it on to the train and showed it to them, while promising to help them he help them become advanced like him. He also thought us the wand movements for the levitation charm and said if they were all sorted into Gryffindor then he and Ben would show the school some of their skills. Harry quietly enjoyed the rest of the train ride with his new friends, while eagerly anticipating his arrival at Hogwarts.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry and the other boys quickly changed into their school robes and disembarked the train. Harry then noticed the huge lumbering form of Hagrid. He shouted "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Harry and his friends walked forward following some first year girls, when suddenly one of the slipped and fell backwards into the waiting arms of Crake. He caught her on helped her stand up, he then asked "Are you okay?" Crake had a look of concern on his face and the girl saw this look and quickly answered "Of course I am. Thank you for catching me." Harry finally got a good look at the girl she had black hair and ocean blue eyes and she looked thankfully at Crake, before running to catch up with her friends. Ben then spoke up "Do you think she realized Crake cast a tripping jinx at her?" Harry looked at Crake to see his reaction and he looked quite guilty staring at the advancing form of the black haired girl.

Harry was amazed when he first saw Hogwarts from his boat. He was of course sitting with Matt, Ben and Crake. They all had the same look of amazement on their faces as they left their boats and climbed the stairs to enter Hogwarts. Hagrid handed them over to a very stern looking woman and they followed her to the great hall. "She's professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor" Matt whispered in their ears.

We waited outside the great hall for the impending sorting. Harry felt very nervous that he wouldn't end up in Gryffindor and he looked around everyone had the same looks of nervousness on their faces including Ben, Matt and Crake. Harry listened to the conversions around him of what the sorting entailed including one red-headed boy who claimed the entrance exam was fighting a troll, however Crake and Ben also heard this and Crake couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Weasley you bloody idiot how stupid could you honestly be, if you think that our parents would allow the sorting process to involve fighting a troll." Weasley's face started to match the colour of his hair as he looked towards Crake, than he noticed Harry and ran over to them. He looked only at Harry and began to address him "I'm Ron Weasley and I think we can be best mates after all who wants to hang out with dark families like the Turner's."

Harry stared right into the eyes of Ron and spoke slowly with a lot of disdain and replied "I don't think I can be best mates with someone who thinks that just because you have a certain last name then that means you must be a dark wizard, so I don't think I want to have you as a friend." Ron turned bright red and said angrily "Fine see if I care who you're friend with you attention seeking brat" and quickly left angrily. Crake stepped up to Harry and said quietly "Thanks for coming to my aid Prongs, and I'll explain later why he assumes I must be dark." Harry was going to him explain now but McGonagall lead them into the great hall.

Harry and the rest of the first years were lead into the great hall and too say the children were amazed would be an understatement. Harry was amazed by not only the magical ceiling but also the house tables the looks of the teachers and was thrilled to be there. McGonagall soon revealed they would be sorted by an old hat that soon broke into a song about the houses and sorting process. McGonagall soon began to call the first years up one by one.

Harry tuned out the beginning of the sorting till he heard professor McGonagall call "Cameron, Matthew." Matt nervous began his walk to the chair where McGonagall placed the sorting hat on his head and after only five seconds it shouted _"Gryffindor!" _Matt's face shone with happiness and he rushed to join the other Gryffindors and Crake gave him a thumbs up. Harry then tuned out the rest of the sorting until he saw Crake tense when he heard "Greengrass, Daphne" and Harry saw Crake staring as the black haired girl that fell earlier, confidently making her way to the sorting hat.

It was placed on her head and it stayed there for about 20 seconds before it called out _"Slytherin!"_ Harry heard Crake whisper "Damn" and he looked over at Crake, when Ben answered his unasked question "Gryffindors tend to not be very friendly with the Slytherins." Harry nodded his head and realized he didn't want to end up in Slytherin if all his new friends were Gryffindors.

He paid little attention till he heard "Malfoy, Draco" and he saw the blond boy from Madame Malkin's step forward. Harry remembered what Crake told him about Malfoy and knew he wanted to stay away from him. As soon as the hat was placed on Malfoy's head he saw it shout _"Slytherin!"_ Harry grew more nervous till he heard McGonagall shout "Potter,Harry" and he felt the eyes of everyone in the great hall look for him.

He felt both Crake and Ben pat him on the back and whisper encouragements as he strode forwards towards the stool and the sorting hat. He had the sorting hat placed on him and he heard it speak in his head. "**Hmm difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, a goodness yes- and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… so where shall I put you" **Harry thought with all his might _Not Slytherin, Not Slytherin. _"**Not Slytherin, eh. Are you sure. You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on your path to greatness, no doubt about that-no. Well if you're sure-better be **_Gryffindor!_"

Harry had a huge grin on his face as he dashed up to the Gryffindor table and sat beside Matt who clapped him on the back. He also noticed to tall red headed boys who could have been Ron's brothers yelling "We got Potter! We got Potter!" He looked at the students remaining to be sorted and saw Crake and Ben flash him thumbs up.

Harry drifted in and out of the sorting after being relieved that he was sorted in to the Gryffindor till he was broken out of his thoughts after hearing the name of the next student to be sorted. "Shepherd, Benjamin" Harry looked and saw Ben make his way to the sorting hat and after about 30 seconds of having the hat on his head it shouted _"Gryffindor!" _He ran up to the spot we were seated and sat across from us. We all waited to hear Crake's name.

Finally McGonagall said "Turner, John" and we say that he looked very nervous we all tried to shot him looks of encouragement but he walked straight to the hat. Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and noticed that Daphne was staring at John as he had the hat placed on his head. It took about a minute and Harry wondered if the hat took this long with him as well then finally it shouted _"Gryffindor!"_ Crake's face broke into a huge grin as he passed the hat off to McGonagall. Harry also chanced another glance at Daphne and noticed she had a look of disappointment on her face.

However unlike those before him Crake didn't run to his new table like everyone else, he instead removed a pair of sunglasses from his robes and put them on. He then looked directly at Ben and nodded. Ben then removed his wand and pointed it at Crake and whispered _"wingardium leviosa"_ and Crake floated in the air, Ben then pulled his wand forward and John pulled towards the Gryffindor table and floated right beside Ben. Ben then cancelled spell and Crake landed beside Ben standing up he then bowed towards the staff table causing the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables to erupt in cheers and even some of the teachers to applaud. Crake fist bumped Ben and high fived both Harry and Matt as he sat down.

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, I had to think long and hard on how I wanted the characters to develop and how they would interact witheach along with a greater sense of where the story plot is going. If anyone cares I'm still deciding what house I'm going to put Ron Weasley in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Because he's not cunning and ambitious and he's not intelligent while not particulary loyal Hufflepuff does expect the leftover students so in conclusion if you care what house Ron ends up in then just let me know.


End file.
